Aligning businesses with different cultures

Website Internationalization

Creating a localized website will be a lot easier if your website is already easy for your international visitors to read. Ensuring your website is easy to read for foreign visitors to your website is an important step in internationalizing your website.

So how can you do make your website easy to read for your international visitors?

Most of the reasons why national websites fail to communicate with their international visitors are directly related to not implementing all of the standard best practices in creating a good website.

You have probably heard of most of these guidelines when creating your company website for your original market. But did you really apply them as best you could? Simply failing to implement a few of these will turn your international clients away and leave them with a bad impression of your company.

Remember for non-native English speakers something else happens before they begin to read your website. Their brain will recognize whether the website is in English or not and decide if they are capable or willing to read English at that time. This can take a few seconds before they actually begin to read your website.

Your foreign readers may be tired, may not feel like switching to a foreign language at that time. If their brain captures anything at that time that they perceive as an extra effort on their part, they will move on. This is when it is critical to have an easy to read website for your foreign business development.

Here are some questions to review your website with for that first impression:

Is Each Web Page Easy On The Eye To Read?

The majority of internet users today are non-native English speakers. English could be their second, third or even fourth language. Even if their language skills are sufficient to understand your website, they will probably need to concentrate more than you to read it. Make it easy for them. Provide them with:
* Titles and subtitles
* Headings and subheadings
* Short paragraphs
* Short sentences

Titles, Subtitles, Headings and Subheads

These add greatly to the readers’ ability to understand your web pages quickly and easily. Remember to ask yourself how your international reader got to your web page.

What could your international visitor possibly want to ask you at each specific point in time on each web page? Use your titles, subtitles, headings and subheads as often as you can to communicate effectively to answer those questions.

Write titles and headings that:
* Mean something to your reader
* Give clear and easy explanations
* Tell your story as they scan through and get it
* Features and benefits work well

Short Sentences and Short Paragraphs

Short paragraphs will make your pages easier to read. Foreign readers are put off even faster by long paragraphs appearing to be difficult to read.

If your paragraph is more than 4 or five lines long, look for ways to make it shorter. Can a part of your paragraph be put into a list format? Cut out unnecessary words. Break it into different paragraphs. A one sentence paragraph is acceptable online.

Keep your sentences short. In each of your sentences, keep the subject, verb and object close together in each sentence. If you need to indicate additional information, find this information a place of its own.
* Use a new sentence.
* Put it under a separate heading.
* Can it be put in a list format?

Are You Saying Anything That Could Be Misleading?

International readers may easily be confused online.
After this their first questions will probably include:
Is this website in my language?
What does this company do?
Where is this company located?
What are they saying?

Keep these questions in mind when you write your website. Continue to ask yourself what any of your visitors could be asking themselves and keep your international visitors in mind.

Consistent vocabulary.

Here are two examples to avoid:

Referring to one object as both a “Gadget” and a “Widget”. Or using one industry’s vocabulary in another industry where another word is used. This mistake can have disastrous effects if translated.

If you are offering one free report and calling it both a “Guide” and a “Report” in different places in your website, your international readers might have a harder time figuring out that you only have one free report to give away. This could make them feel frustrated and generate negative feelings when they can’t find the second “report”.

Are You Communicating Clearly To People?

Are you presenting your story clearly, putting everything into a context that is simple to follow? Make your story so simple to follow anyone would be able to understand it even if they haven’t slept for a day or two.

Put first things first and follow through. Second things go second. If you feel you cannot do this easily, look for a way to tell your story differently. Can you use visuals or lists.
Turn a process into
* A number of different steps,
* List them and number them and
* Put each step on a separate web page

Are You Talking To Your Visitors?

Talk To Your Visitors

Say “you” when talking to your reader. And it is also preferable to use “you” when not talking about a specific person instead of “he or “she”. Foreign visitors will understand this better.

Audio

If you have sound starting on your website automatically, ask yourself how this sound comes across in different cultures. Could it possible be annoying to anyone in any way? Some like it fast. Some like it slow.

Clear and Easy To Understand For Everyone

These are just a few elements to consider in creating websites. Implement them and implement them satisfactorily. Your foreign visitors may not necessarily find your website easy to read in English, but at least they will not be put off or confused.

If you do not internationalize your website, the negative effects on your international readers will be greater than on your national readers. Can you measure the cost of not communicating well with your international prospects and clients?

There has been a shift in internet user demographics with more non-native English language users today than in the past. Give your website a global reach with internationalized content.

If you follow these tips your web site will be friendlier for all of your international visitors.

Here are a few more Website Internationalization articles:
- How To Get Your Communication Platform Ready For International Marketing
- Why I Am Creating An Information Product On Website Internationalization
- Write A Better International Website
- Buying Logos For International Websites
- Design Websites For Speed In International Internet Marketing
- First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
- Stop Pushing Your Foreign Visitors Away
- Easy Content For All Of Your Web Site Readers
- Be Reachable To Everyone
- Show The World Your Location
- Is Your Website Sabotaging Your International Business Development?
- Small Business International Development In Three Easy Steps - First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business

Don’t miss the business guide on Get International Clients
-Website Internationalization Guide

Mind-Set In Cross-Cultural Communication

Cross-cultural communication is not an exact science. When you begin a cross-cultural business conversation for the first time, you cannot be sure where it will end.

Within cultures, people are different. Within the same cultural group:

• There are different ways of saying hello
• There are different ways of being polite
• There are different ways of being respectful

Most people do not fully understand the way in which differences in cultures, and even within cultures, impact communication. Let’s look at how people approach cross-cultural communication. [click to continue...]

Service Offering In Foreign Languages

When looking at way to start generating leads in a foreign market, remember that most people don’t speak English. If you decide to target a country, translate your most important sales and serives pages into the target country language.

Below is a service page in Italian that I translated using an online translation tool. The translation is not perfect, but it will at least give the first ideas in Italian, so an Italian reader would be a litle more at east to do the first call with me in English. 

Per le aziende internazionali
Cindy King crea contenuti per le imprese alla ricerca di un costo efficace, a basso rischio per portare strumento di generazione di espansione internazionale.
Lo fa attraverso la creazione di contenuti pertinenti in inglese ogni mese. Lo stesso contenuto è re-purposed ogni mese per essere utilizzato in una selezione di online e offline strumenti di comunicazione.
Un piano di marketing integrato fornisce varietà di contenuti e stimola internazionale condurre generazione.
Questo è il luogo ideale per le imprese europee e di espansione internazionale, contemplando esitazione circa l’assunzione di personale oltremare o firma un accordo con un terzo stranieri.
Questa soluzione fornirà imprese francesi, con commenti, e della conoscenza del settore specifico per la tua internazionale, le prospettive per i vostri prodotti e servizi, mentre lo sviluppo di un clientela esistente immediatamente. Questo tiene pienamente i vantaggi di opportunità di business online.

Per le imprese americane
Cindy King aiuta le imprese internazionali di definire la loro strategia aziendale e lavora con loro fino a quando attuazione.
Cindy King crea contenuto in lingua inglese per un pubblico internazionale. Per i progetti di internazionalizzazione sito web o di altri progetti di comunicazione B2B in inglese e letto da un pubblico a livello internazionale, anche non di madre lingua inglese.
Essa fornisce una serie di strumenti di sviluppo mentalità internazionale per accompagnare i clienti nella loro espansione.
Essa prevede la creazione di contenuti e servizi di francese e di altre lingue europee, per lo sviluppo del business internazionale.

International Business Tools
Cindy King aiuta le aziende a creare strumenti di diritto internazionale degli affari da zero. Questi International Business Tools vi permetterà di:
• Sviluppare il feedback che vi serve,
• Regolare il vostro posizionamento,
• Crescere in mercati esteri.
Con oltre 20 anni di esperienza nelle vendite internazionali tradizionali strategie di marketing e di internet marketing combinata con esperienza, Cindy ti aiuterà a trovare il modo più veloce, efficace gli strumenti per sviluppare il business internazionale con il bilancio.

International Business Sales Cheat Sheet
Per tutte le imprese appena iniziando a sviluppare i loro mercati internazionali, senza alcuna esperienza internazionale di business, un business internazionale vendite foglietto è un prezioso strumento per la maggior parte si può avere.
Un foglietto vendite internazionali renderà facile da implementare la vostra strategia di sviluppo del business. Essa dà voi e il vostro team di vendita un elenco completo delle cose da dire ai vostri clienti internazionali. Rende sviluppando il vostro mercato internazionale notevolmente.

Idea Factory
Avete bisogno di aiuto per concettualizzare la tua idea di espansione per il business internazionale?
Siete alla ricerca di puntatori, di consulenza o di stimolo per pensare in modo creativo?
Siete alla ricerca di idee brillanti e originali concetti?
Cindy ha contribuito a una stringa di ottenere la loro azienda leader internazionale nella strategia aziendale messa a fuoco.
Unico, interessante, utile, di azione e di idee d’avanguardia per ottenere un numero maggiore di clienti internazionali.
I suddetti servizi sono forniti attraverso la società francese Cindy,

King Business Tools
4 rue des Longues Raies
77630 St. Martin en Biere
France
+33 6 98 91 86 11

SARL King Business Tools RCS Melun 502 284 961

Here are Uniquely Cindy Services in different languages:
- Services In Japanese
- Cindy King Services In Russian
- Cindy King Services In German
- Cindy King Services In Korean
- Cindy King Services In Simplified Chinese
- Cindy King Services In Dutch
- Cindy King Services In Greek
- Cindy King Services In Traditional Chinese
- Cindy King Services In Portuguese
- Cindy King Services For India
- Cindy King Services In Spanish

With international lead generation, it is vital to start with the right definition and to qualify all of your leads.

• Start with a clear definition for what a lead is to your company.
• Qualify this definition as precisely as you can.
• Document, track and improve your process.

An accurate definition of your ideal lead gives you a key tool for optimum efficiency within your own business.

This article is part of the Guide To International Lead Generation, which is just one of the marketing strategies in the Business Guide 4 - Build Your International Marketing Strategy essential for effective international business development. Be sure to check them both out.

Define Your Lead And Expect To Revise It

It is also necessary to have an accurate definition of your ideal international lead because your definition is very likely to change as you get to know your international markets better. [click to continue...]

In my previous articles, you have seen:

• How important it is to have an international marketing pipeline to get sales-ready leads for your business.
• Why it is important to define what a lead is for you and your company

This article is part of the Guide To International Lead Generation, which is just one of the marketing strategies in the Business Guide 4 - Build Your International Marketing Strategy essential for effective international business development. Be sure to check them both out.

Creating Your Marketing Pipeline

Let us look at two different aspects of your international sales system.

• Your lead generation system to increase international business.
• You international marketing pipeline to feed your lead generation system.

There are three parts of your lead generation system. These three parts are what happens prior to your clients buying your products.

1. Lead Generation System For Inquiries
2. Lead Qualification System
3. Lead Nurturing

You need to add an international marketing process parallel to each of these three different parts of your lead generation system. [click to continue...]

You need to know where your international leads are in their purchase process. This helps you to put up the best lead generation process to get more sales.

Before doing anything, you need a comprehensive definition of what a good lead is to your company. You will also need a scoring or evaluation process to put your leads into the right stage of your lead generation.

This article is part of the Guide To International Lead Generation, which is just one of the marketing strategies in the Business Guide 4 - Build Your International Marketing Strategy essential for effective international business development. Be sure to check them both out.

Qualify with BANTS

This is a simple method to come up with a clear definition on how to qualify your ideal lead. [click to continue...]

Last updated 18 August 2008

This International Web Marketing Guide covers the various aspects of International Business Development through good Internet Marketing practices.

Basic knowledge of website design is important for anyone interested in using international internet marketing to develop business internationally.

One of the first steps you need to take is to look at your current website. You need to evaluate whether you will use a separate international website or whether you will internationalize your current website to communicate with your foreign markets. This is not an easy decision to make. There are several factors involved.

Your international expansion will probably lead you to create separate websites for each country you market to. This is called Website Localization.

And the next step is to have one global website where all of your visitors can find a direct link to their countries website in their own language. This step is called Website Globalization.

Website Localization and Website Globalization is much easier if prepared through the initial Website Internationalization phase.

Understanding basic website design best practices helps for both your domestic marketing and your international internet marketing.

Define Your International Sales Strategy

Internet gives you a whole new set of international sales strategies. Your web marketing plan is based on your international sales strategy.

Get Your Front End Acquisition StrategyFor International Clients

Create Your International Web Marketing Plan

Is International Marketing On The Web Different?

Use Video Marketing To Get Closer To Foreign Prospects

Video Marketing combined with Cross Cultural Marketing expertise can get your more international clients faster.

Video Marketing 101

Design Your Website For Speed

This first series is on how to improve the speed for your visitors’ browsers to upload your website.

This is a critical issue for good international internet practices. There is still a large population all over the world using slower modems. And browsers on mobile phones are also using different technologies.

Speed is critical for good international business practices online.

Here is a series of articles on how you can improve speed for your website visitors:

Use The Height And Width Tags

Use A Forward Slash On Your Links

Reduce the HTTP Requests

Optimize Your Cascading Style Sheets

Design Your Website For International Clients

Here are other useful articles on website design

Design Your WebsiteFor Your Needs – Not On Cost

10 Top Traffic Generators For Your Website

How To Hire The Right Website DesignerFor Your International Audience

How To Speed Up Your WebsiteFor All Of Your Visitors

Submit Your Website To Foreign Search Engine

Read more on why you should submit your website to foreign search engines and how to go about doing it yourself.

Foreign Search Engine Submissions

Break Through Foreign Language Barriers

I have written a series of articles on my personal blog, www.cindyking.biz These articles cover the foreign language barriers you can encounter when targeting international markets online.

Topics covered include:

• Getting Your Computer and Keyboard To Work With Foreign Alphabets
• Using Online Translation Tools

You can find these articles under: Foreign Lingo

Design Your International Web Visibility

Don’t forget to review this Business Guide on how to give your website international visibility.

Guide To Design International Web Visibility • How do you know if your international clients can find you? • What do you need to do to make it easy for them to know you are there? Find out how to design your website for international visibility here.

Read The Whole Story

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 4 Build Your International Marketing Strategy Be sure to check out the other useful tips to build your international marketing strategy

Remember to fit your International Web Marketing into a global International Marketing strategy. This is where many online businesses fail. International business expansion requires an international marketing strategy. You can begin your international business development through international web marketing, but you will need more than this to develop your business.

Review all of the different marketing elements of your international marketing in the Business Guide 4 - Build Your International Marketing Strategy.

If you really want to develop your international business and get more sales you need a system. You also need to incorporate this system into an international marketing strategy.

The right international marketing strategy will bring in leads from different countries. An effective international marketing strategy is based on several different marketing strategies including:

• Traditional international marketing - for the core strategy
• Cross-cultural marketing - to get the right communication
• International web marketing - for easy international business development
• Strategic marketing - to get your message right
• Multichannel marketing - to create intimacy with the right marketing mix

Remember to check out the Business Guide 4 - Build Your International Marketing Strategy to see how all of your international marketing strategies fit together.

Your international lead generation strategy is another component of an effective international marketing strategy. Your international lead generation strategy leverages the power of your international web marketing. It works for you to bring in your international leads.

Use you international website as an international lead generation system.

Don’t forget to check back here again soon. This guide is regularly updated.

Creating Your Lead Generation Strategy

• Have you got your online international sales strategy all wrong?  • What is the trend towards more international business? • What is your current marketing pipeline? Read more here.

• Would you like to find out what triggered your first international sales?  • Would you like to cultivate those triggers to get more international sales? Find out how by clicking here.

• Do you have the right definition for your international lead?  • Why is defining your international lead important? Read more here.

• Why should you start with a clear definition for what a lead is to your company?  • Should you qualify this definition as precisely as you can? • Do you need to revise your definition? Find out more here.

• What is the BANTS formula?  • How can you get better marketing? Get the answers here.

• What should you do first to get more international clients?  • What are the advantages of measurement? Find out here.

• What are the three parts of your international lead generation plan?  • What marketing do you need to do for more effective lead generation? Click through here to find out.

• How do you use lead nurturing to create relationships?  • Would you like a basic outline of what to do? Get started here.

Tools To Use In Your Lead Generation Strategy

When Digital Products Open International Markets

• Are you stuck on deciding which product to sell abroad?  • Would you like an easy solution to stimulate international market research? Find out how digital products can help you here.

How An Information Product Strategy Develops Lead Generation Beyond Your Current Borders

• Are you getting all of the sales value you can from your information products?  • Would you like to get more mileage out of your information products? Get started here.

Information Products Open The Door To International Development For Brick And Mortar Businesses

• Would you like to take the risk out of international business development?  • Would you like to create an international lead generation system from your current office? See how you can get started here.

How Information Products Sold In Foreign Markets Can Save Your Business When Your Economy Is Slow

• Are you optimizing all of your current products and expertise in your foreign markets?  • Would you like an easy source of revenue from international markets? See why you should be doing this by clicking through here.

How Offline Businesses Can Learn From Infopreneurs To Develop Outside Markets

• What can brick and mortar businesses learn from infopreneurs?  • Are you optimizing all of your information products? See why you should be doing this by clicking through here.

Your Lead Generation Strategy Is Part Of Your Global International Marketing Strategy

• How can you connect with your international clients?

• What communication do you need to connect with international markets?

• What are the key components of an effective international marketing strategy?

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 4 Build Your International Marketing Strategy Be sure to check out the other elements you need to plan your international sales strategy

International Lead Generation

Developing an international business or getting more international clients has never been easier with international internet marketing. And yet so few companies are using the tools they have available to them.
One of these tools is Information Products. Companies have always used information products. In their printed versions and even PowerPoint versions.

Maybe companies are stuck in the old way of using information. Information tools in the past were used as a static form of sharing information. The sales team did almost all of the leg work. The main exception being the use of printed coupons to incite readers to come into your store. [click to continue...]